Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I've been struggling with Windows 8 for 25 days, since I bought a new mini-tower on 03/02/2013. I understand there were some significant technical and security upgrades to this edition of the Windows operating system. That's all well and good, but at my level of operation---a daily, 14-16 hours, home user of email, internet and document (Word, Excel, Publisher) functions---it's been a nightmare. A few specifics: Windows Mail, which I've been using for 10 years (partly in its earlier Outlook Express format) has been reduced to a kiddie version with loss of multiple functions, like sorting and creating sub-folders, and a dependence on web social nets for the creation of a contact list---no more simply adding a correspondent to your contacts or importing your old list from the earlier versions of Mail. Programs and functions that were standard with earlier versions have either disappeared or become additional cost options. Terminology (e.g., icons are sometimes referred to as "charms"), access and navigation all come in rainbow-hued and often dumbed-down formats and tied to a confusing plethora of new pop-up tool bars. There is a constant push to look to the internet (the "Store" is a prominent new feature) to download additional functions. Now, on the chance that I'm just dumb about all this, let me add this: over the last twenty or so years I've used Windows 3.0, 95, 98, 2000, XP, and Vista at home or at work---Windows 8 seems about as different as apples are to asparagus. So, if it's just me, after two decades and six Windows editions, I have to wonder why I can't figure it out any more. Here's what I think, technical improvements aside: Windows has always been about user interface. User interface was the very essence of the original Windows concept and the hallmark of the franchise since the beginning. Until now. Windows 8 is more like a face-off. It is a fix of something that didn't need fixing, Microsoft's New Coke. I think I'll load my old XP and buy an upgrade to 7. ----- NINE MONTHS LATER (01/06/2014) The OS license for my Dell computer did not permit a change to any earlier Windows version, so I have been operating Windows 8 by necessity. I finally discovered that the W8 mail program was essentially my gmail box dressed in W8 livery, with the resultant downgrade in versatility and no convenient choice but cloud storage for my email. I have adjusted to what is, in essence, a second desktop, but one that is designed to function on the smaller screens of portable and touch-sensitive devices. I am left with the feeling that the old desktop is a begrudging condescension to old warhorses like me but I'd better get used to the new Start window if I know what's good for me. W8's push to download more apps remains obvious as does its default to cloud programs and file storage which the user must opt out of if the choice is available. Recently, a couple weeks after I downloaded W8.1, I experienced what I thought was a Windows crash when I lost all access, except for the Dell logo. I tried a number of non-violent strategies to jump-start W8, but nada. Ready to buy a Mac, I figured one last try was in order. I took the computer to a repair shop . . . where W8 immediately booted up. Go figure. I admit that I might be a Luddite, at least insofar that the only portable devices I synch my PC to are my hands and eyeballs, so keep that in mind for what follows. CONS Windows 8 is crassly commercial, rigged for the small screens of portable devices, is more device friendly than user friendly and is dragging us, like it or not, toward Microsoft's vision of cloud-centralization. I can live with Windows 8, but I don't love Windows anymore. PROS It's the latest thing. UPDATE (08/16/2015) Windows 10: Better.